This didn’t take long at all. South Dakota is already challening Roe v. Wade. In a very scary vote today, the South Dakota Senate passed a bill banning all forms of abortion, except those necessary to save a woman’s life.
“After more than an hour of fierce and emotional debate, the senators rejected pleas to add exceptions for incest or rape or for the health of the pregnant woman and instead voted, 23 to 12, to outlaw all abortions, except those to save the woman’s life.
They also rejected an effort to allow South Dakotans to decide the question in a referendum and an effort to prevent state tax dollars from financing what is certain to be a long and expensive court battle.
This is beyond ludicrous. I guess it was only a matter of time once our Supreme Court took it’s terrifying plunge into abject conservatism, in a country where even the concept of birth control is becoming sketchier and sketchier in our abstinence-only society…but sweet gaia mother of all…I didn’t think it would happen so quickly.
Now, the only thing this new law is waiting for is the signature of the Pro-Life Governor Mike Rounds.
I’m not a lawyer, but I do believe that at this point, even if this South Dakota bill does get signed into law, it’s still illegal because it’s outside the bounds of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. To quote from the Washington Post article on the subject:
“If you’re just reading the law as it stands now, South Dakota’s law doesn’t really stand any chance under Roe or Casey . I have to agree with those who think it’s remote,” said Chuck Donovan, executive vice president of the Family Research Council and a former lobbyist for the National Right to Life Committee.
However, the The Supreme Court has already begun to reconsider abortion legislature, choosing to re-examine the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban of 2003. To quote Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America:
“The two main reasons Courts have struck down these bans are: their broad language could ban abortion as early as the 12th week in pregnancy, and they lack exceptions to protect women’s health. Medical groups, including the American college of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, oppose the federal ban.
Today’s action means the core principle of protecting women’s health as guaranteed by Roe v. Wade is in clear and present danger.”
If you believe in women’s reproductive rights, if you believe women should have access to birth control, if you believe that the very private and personal decision of whether or not to continue a pregnancy is something that should be made by the individual couple or woman involved, and not by our government, if you believe that laws should protect the constitutional rights of its citizens by protecting their personal liberties, if you believe that women should have the right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy, if you believe that women have the right to safe, clean, medical abortions, and not back-alley care…join NARAL Pro-Choice right now and give them money so that they can fight for what you believe in.
